Information processing apparatus, display processing method, program, and recording medium to display off-screen objects in sub-windows

ABSTRACT

An embodiment provides an information processing apparatus having software running thereon, the software having a window as a user interface for displaying a plurality of objects on a display apparatus, the information processing apparatus performing: in response to a user selecting a desired region in a display region of the display apparatus, putting a mark on the region and an object which is present in the region; when the object of the marked region is not displayed in the window, displaying the object in the marked region in a periphery of the window as a sub-window; and closing the sub-window in response to the object in the marked region being displayed in the window.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims priority of co-pending Japanese patentapplication 2011-279596, filed on Dec. 21, 2011.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to a graphical user interface, and moreparticularly to an information processing apparatus, a displayprocessing method, and a program, which improve usability when handlinga large number of objects on a display screen.

Many current personal computers employ a window system, which enablesintuitive operation. The window system allows a user to access a desiredobject not displayed in a window by scrolling with an input device, suchas a mouse or a keyboard.

Since data such as a large amount of content, a large table, or a largedocument cannot be displayed as a whole within a window, such data istypically browsed with scrolling or tab-switching. In working on aplurality of scattered objects, operations for finding desired objectsare required because not all the objects can necessarily besimultaneously displayed.

Common ways to simultaneously display a plurality of objects includeactivating two or more instances of an application, or dividing a screeninto two or more areas and displaying different portions of the samedocument.

Japanese Patent Application JP2004-145724A, “Information Display Methodfor Information Display”, discloses a technique for such a situationthat past headlines of e.g., news, in a headline list displayed on ascreen, are scrolled up and out of the screen over time. Designatingheadlines that will be needed (that are desired to be browsed later) inadvance allows past headlines scrolled out of the screen to be displayedin a sub-window.

Japanese Patent Application JP02-139625A, “Screen Display System”,discloses a technique by which, when data larger than a screen isdisplayed, information is displayed indicating the presence of a portionnot displayed in the screen. Specifically, for any portion not displayedin the screen, a boundary of a data display area is represented as adotted line instead of a solid line.

According to the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Applications, whenthere is a portion that extends off screen due to scrolling etc., thepresence and information thereof are displayed. However, it does notprovide an ergonomically excellent display/selection method when aparticular region is out of a display area. Moreover, when theparticular region returns into the display area with scrolling etc., thedisplay of the presence information is not appropriately cleared.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The present invention has been made in view of the above describedproblems, and it is an object to provide an information processingapparatus, a display processing method, and a program, whichappropriately display or hide information to which the user wants torefer. It is another object of the present invention to provide a workenvironment for working on a plurality of objects while referring toregions and objects on which the user put a mark. It is a further objectof the present invention to provide an environment in which the user isnot provided with a duplicate display of information. It is a furtherobject of the present invention to provide a work environment formanipulating a plurality of objects while giving a sweeping view ofrelevant objects. To solve the above-described problems in theconventional art, the present invention enables necessary informationpresent outside a display area to be simultaneously displayed in asub-window around the display area. More specifically, in response to auser marking any one or more positions in a current window, objects inthe marked region and their related objects are all selected to set amarked region. When the marked region becomes outside the display areafor some reason such as scrolling, the marked region is displayed in asub-window. In contrast, when the marked region becomes inside thedisplay area, the sub-window disappears. The sub-window is displayedalong with, and therefore can be compared with, the currently operatedwindow. At this point, the sub-window is placed outside the currentwindow or at a position not overlapping objects in the current window.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an object node tree that includes nodes and branches;

FIG. 2 shows an example of a screen illustrating an implementation ofthe present invention;

FIGS. 3-16 show detailed examples of a screen illustrating theimplementation of the present invention;

FIG. 17 shows an example of a screen illustrating another implementationof the present invention;

FIG. 18 is a functional block diagram of the present invention;

FIG. 19 is a process flowchart of the present invention;

FIG. 20 shows an example of a typical hardware configuration to be usedin the present invention;

FIG. 21 shows a structure of a marking information database; and

FIG. 22 shows a structure of an object-related information database.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

While the present invention will be described below with reference to anembodiment, the present invention is not limited to the embodiment to bedescribed below.

As stated briefly above, the present invention enables necessaryinformation present outside a display area to be simultaneouslydisplayed in a sub-window around the display area. More specifically, inresponse to a user marking any one or more positions in a currentwindow, objects in the marked region and their related objects are allselected to set a marked region. When the marked region becomes outsidethe display area for some reason such as scrolling, the marked region isdisplayed in a sub-window. In contrast, when the marked region becomesinside the display area, the sub-window disappears. The sub-window isdisplayed along with, and therefore can be compared with, the currentlyoperated window. At this point, the sub-window is placed outside thecurrent window or at a position not overlapping objects in the currentwindow.

The present invention also allows a plurality of marks, where the markedregions are displayed in respective sub-windows. A sub-window is placedto maintain a positional relationship with the current window indicatingin which direction the marked region is present relative to the currentwindow.

As a different implementation, a sub-window may always be placed near amouse cursor. Further, selecting the inside of a sub-window allows thesub-window to be displayed as the current window. If this causes amarked region to become outside the display area, the marked region isnow displayed as a sub-window.

When the mouse cursor is moved outside the current window, a pluralityof sub-windows may be placed inside the current window with objectsoverlapping each other so that the sub-windows become within the currentwindow.

The present invention provides an information processing apparatushaving the following characteristics. The information processingapparatus has software running thereon, the software having a window asa user interface for displaying a plurality of objects on a displayapparatus, the information processing apparatus performing: in responseto a user selecting a desired region in a display region of the displayapparatus, putting a mark on the region and an object which is presentin the region; when the object of the marked region is not displayed inthe window, displaying the object in the marked region in a periphery ofthe window as a sub-window; and closing the sub-window in response tothe object in the marked region being displayed in the window.

Here, the information processing apparatus performs, in response to theuser selecting any of objects in the sub-window, displaying, in thewindow, the marked region containing the objects displayed in thesub-window, and deleting the sub-window.

Further, in the information processing apparatus, a transfer button isprovided in the sub-window, the information processing apparatusperforming, in response to the user selecting the transfer button,displaying, in the window, the marked region displayed in thesub-window, and deleting the sub-window.

Further, the information processing apparatus performs: searching forobjects related to the objects displayed in the window; and displaying,as a sub-window, related objects found by searching and not displayed inthe window.

In the information processing apparatus, displaying the sub-windowincludes displaying the sub-window so that a direction in which themarked region displayed in the sub-window is present relative to thewindow is indicated.

In another implementation, the present invention may be provided as amethod, a computer program causing a computer to perform the method, oras a recording medium having stored therein a computer program in acomputer-readable form.

The above configuration can provide a technique by which, when themarked region is outside the display area, information about the markedarea is displayed at an appropriate position, and when the marked regionreturns to the inside of the display area due to scrolling etc., thesub-window is seamlessly cleared.

Turning now to the figures, with reference to FIGS. 1 to 22, aninformation processing apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention will be described below. In the embodiment to bedescribed below, a computer apparatus having software running thereonfor displaying, selecting, and manipulating objects will be described asan example of an information processing apparatus having softwarerunning thereon that includes, as a user interface, a display screen onwhich a plurality of objects are placed. Exemplary objects includeicons, document files, images, image files, video files, and audiofiles.

Operational implementations of the present invention will be describedusing FIGS. 1 to 17. FIG. 1 shows a node tree that includes nodes andbranches. Since the node tree 110 is very large and wide, the entirenode tree 110 cannot be displayed in a display region of a displayapparatus.

The node tree 110 is digital data typically stored in a memory space ina computer, and a plurality of objects originating in Root are linked bynodes and branches. Examples of such node trees are quite commonly usedin version management for source code, parts management for industrialproducts, circuit design, operation schedules, schedule management, andthe like. A user performs desired operation by causing these nodes,branches, and objects to be displayed and manipulating them.

In FIG. 1, a region 120 is a region currently viewed by the user. Markedregions 130, 140, and 150 are assumed to be regions already marked bythe user. Generally, the region 120 alone does not provide sufficientinformation for the user to perform operation, so that the user performsoperation on the node tree while referring to the marked regions 130,140, and 150 as necessary. A marked region is a region designated inadvance by the user as information the user wants to refer to for theuser's operation. Conventionally, each time the user wants to refer toinformation, the user must move the current region to where theinformation is present with a mouse cursor or the like.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary screen for understanding of an implementationof the present invention. A display region 210 on the display apparatusis a desktop screen displayed by an operating system. The display region210 displays various icons 290 for use by the user, and a window 220 ofan application for working on a plurality of objects.

The application is not a special one but is similar to software for fileobject management, such as Microsoft® Explorer or File Manager ofMicrosoft Windows®, or Finder® of Mac®. Further, the application may beimplemented in the form of add-on software added on to an Internetbrowser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer®. (“Microsoft”, “Windows”,and “Internet Explorer” are registered trademarks of MicrosoftCorporation in the United States, other countries, or both. “Mac” is aregistered trademark of Apple Inc., in the United States, othercountries, or both.)

The application window 220 includes a display region 120 in whichobjects are displayed, a menu bar 280 for manipulating objects andmanaging files, and a scroll bar 260 and a slide button 270 for shiftingthe current region. A pointer 330 for operating each of GUI parts andbuttons is also displayed.

A plurality of sub-windows, which represent a feature of the presentinvention, are displayed around the application window 220. The markedregions 130 to 150 marked in advance by the user are displayed in thesub-windows.

The user selects a desired region in the display region on the displayapparatus in advance, and marks the selected region and objects presentin the selected region. In response to the objects in the marked regionbeing not displayed in the window, the objects in the marked region aredisplayed in a sub-window around the window.

Further, in response to the objects in the marked region being displayedin the window, the sub-window is closed.

For a marked region, objects contained in the marked region arerecorded. FIG. 21 shows a structure of a database for managing markinginformation. The database, which is for managing marked regions, recordsmark numbers and a set of objects contained in the region correspondingto each mark number.

For the mark number 1, rectangle position information (a start point andan end point) is written as region information, and objects contained inthe region are recorded next to the region information. Alternatively,the region information may be logical relationship information, such asthe range of node numbers or branch numbers, for example nodes 5 to 8.The marking information is editable as necessary by the user with a GUI.

In this manner, the marked regions are automatically displayed asrespective sub-windows around the main window. Each sub-window isdisplayed to allow the user to know in which direction the correspondingmarked region is present relative to the current main window.

As another implementation, object-related information may be used toautomatically set the marked regions. Objects related to an object ABCin FIG. 1 are determined with reference to an object-related informationdatabase, and the marked regions 130, 140, and 150 are automaticallyset.

FIG. 22 shows a structure of the object-related information database. InFIG. 22, the database defines that objects related to the object ABC arean object AA, an object BB, and an object C, and objects related to anobject DEF are an object D, an object E, and an object F.

In this manner, objects related to objects in the main window aredisplayed in sub-windows around the main window.

Preferably, the number of marked regions is reduced by grouping objectslocated close to each other into one group. For example, among allobjects related to objects displayed in the main window, objects locatedclose to each other (or logically close to each other) are groupedtogether.

In the example of FIG. 1, the objects AA and BB are close to each otherand therefore grouped into a first group. Similarly, the objects E and Fare grouped into a second group, and the objects C and D are groupedinto a third group.

The content of the object-related information database is editable bythe user. The user uses a GUI to designate objects and associate theobjects with each other.

Features of the present invention will be described in further detail.FIG. 3 shows an object tree in an application window 310 displayed inthe display region 210. In the example of FIG. 3, the objects are textfile objects.

A folder having a root “Sample” includes a folder “a” and a folder “b”,and the content of the folder b is currently listed. The user isselecting “B15.txt,” which is an object 320, with the pointer 330.

In FIG. 4, the user marks a region 440 with the pointer 330, a keyboardcursor, or the like. The marking operation may involve expanding theregion by dragging the mouse cursor from the start point to the endpoint of the rectangular region while pressing the right mouse button,or designating the region with a particular combination of cursor keysor with a combination of mouse cursors and various keyboard keys. Ofcourse, the region may be designated with a speech recognitiontechnique.

When the user marks the region in FIG. 4, objects contained in themarked region are set as marked. In marking, objects related to themarked objects may also be marked. In this case, the related objects areregistered as related objects for the marked region.

As a different implementation, object-related information includingpreset object-to-object relationships may be used to automatically set amarked region. In this case, if there is an object related to an objectdisplayed in the main window, a marked region is automatically set andthe object is displayed in a sub-window.

In FIG. 5, the pointer 330 is moved onto the folder a to click thereon.This causes the folder a to be opened, as shown in FIG. 6. As will beunderstood in FIG. 6, upon moving the pointer 330 onto the folder a toclick thereon, a sub-window 440, which is a feature of the presentinvention, is automatically displayed. In the sub-window 440, the markedregion previously marked is displayed. From the position of the tail ofthe balloon, it can be known in which direction the marked region islocated.

FIG. 7 shows an example in which the pointer 330 in FIG. 6 is movedoutside the application window. As will be understood in FIG. 7, thesub-window 440 is automatically moved to be within a main window 710,and position information is also presented indicating in which directionthe marked region is present.

FIG. 8 shows an example in which the pointer 330 is used to performscrolling. In FIG. 8, as a scroll bar 860 provided in an applicationwindow 810 is scrolled down with the pointer 330 toward the bottom ofthe screen, the marked region is gradually displayed in the main window.The position of the sub-window 440 is adjusted to overlap acorresponding portion of the marked region.

FIG. 9 shows that the screen is further scrolled down with the pointer330. Here, a feature of the present invention can be seen. In responseto the marked region in the sub-window becoming within the main window,the display of the sub-window disappears. In this manner, seamlessinformation display is possible while redundant information isinstantaneously cleared.

FIG. 10 shows an example in which the display region is again scrolledup with the scroll bar or the like. The sub-window 440 that hasdisappeared is again displayed.

FIG. 11 shows an example in which another marked region is set in thestate of FIG. 10. In FIG. 11, the pointer 330 is used to select a textfile object 335, and then another region is marked to set a markedregion 445. As a result, two marked regions are currently present.

FIG. 12 shows an example in which the pointer 330 is moved onto thesub-window 440 in the state of FIG. 11. Upon the pointer 330 enteringthe sub-window 440, a warp button 129 (transfer button) is displayed.The warp button is a button for setting the current sub-window as themain window.

FIG. 13 shows that, after a text file object “B16.txt” is selected withthe pointer 330 in FIG. 12, the pointer 330 is moved to click on thewarp button 129. Clicking on the warp button 129 in FIG. 13 causes thescreen to be automatically scrolled down, resulting in display as inFIG. 14. Preferably, when the mouse pointer 330 is placed onto the warpbutton 129, an overlay arrow 450 representing the downward movement isdisplayed.

As will be understood in FIG. 14, the selected text file object“B16.txt” is displayed at the center of the main window. At the sametime, the second marked region 445 is displayed as a sub-window.

FIG. 15 shows an implementation of display in which a plurality ofmarked regions 151 and 152 are present below the main window. In thisexample, each marked region is placed near the pointer 330. Similarly,FIG. 16 shows an exemplary display in which two marked regions 161 and162 are present above and below the main window, respectively. In thisexample, each marked region is placed at a position that intuitivelyrepresents the positional relationship with the main window.

FIG. 17 shows another implementation of the embodiment of the presentinvention. The objects related to the objects displayed in the mainwindow of the application window 220 are grouped together and displayedas related objects in one sub-window 295.

Using the object-related information database in FIG. 22, the objectsrelated to the objects contained in the currently viewed main window aredisplayed as one related group in the sub-window 295 around the mainwindow.

In the example in FIG. 22, the objects AA, BB, E, F, C, and D, which areobjects related to the main window, are recognized as one group anddisplayed in the sub-window 295 (related-object display mode).

It is to be noted that, in this implementation, the objects displayed inthe sub-window 295 are automatically added or deleted with changes inthe objects displayed in the main window 220.

FIG. 18 shows functional blocks of the information processing apparatusof the present invention. Each functional block may be implemented asdedicated hardware, but is typically configured as a softwareapplication that runs on a device such as a personal computer, a PDA(Personal Data Assistant), or a mobile terminal.

A user input reception section 1802 receives the user's pointeroperations and keyboard operations to take region designation, objectselection, and window manipulation performed through a GUI. A markedregion setting section 1804, on receipt of the user's regiondesignation, marks a corresponding region and records the markinginformation in a marking information database 1820.

An object search section 1806 searches for objects contained in themarked region and records the search result in the marking informationdatabase 1820. A related-object search section 1808 refers to anobject-related information database 1822 to search for objects relatedto objects contained in a window viewed by the user, and sends thesearch result to a grouping setting section 1810.

The grouping setting section 1810 instructs a window display section1818 to display the related objects found by the search as one group ina sub-window, and also allows edit operations to be performed for theobject-related information database 1822 under instructions from theuser.

A display position determination section 1812 determines where and howthe sub-window is to be displayed, and sends relevant information to thewindow display section 1818. The display position determination section1812 also deletes the sub-window if objects contained in the sub-windoware contained in the main window.

A cursor position determination section 1816 determines whether thecurrent pointer has been moved based on the user's cursor operation orpointer operation, and if the pointer is moved outside the main window,sends relevant information to the display position determination section1812. The cursor position determination section 1816 also determineswhether the display region has been changed due to scrolling etc., andsends relevant information to a display region shift determinationsection 1814.

The display region shift determination section 1814 receives theinformation about pointer movement and region shift from the cursorposition determination section 1816. The display region shiftdetermination section 1814 monitors changes in objects in the mainwindow and, for any change, sends relevant information to therelated-object search section 1808 correspondingly. If region shift hasoccurred, the display region shift determination section 1814 sendsrelevant information to the display position determination section 1812.

The display region shift determination section 1814 also determineswhether the warp button has been pressed. If the warp button has beenpressed, the display region shift determination section 1814 determinesregion shift has occurred, thereby setting the current sub-window as themain window and sending relevant information to the object searchsection 1806.

The window display section 1818 displays the sub-window at a designatedposition based on signals from the grouping setting section 1810, thedisplay position determination section 1812, and the cursor positiondetermination section 1816.

FIG. 19 shows a flowchart of sub-window display of the presentinvention. In step 1902, a main window is displayed. Next, in step 1904,a user input is received.

In step 1906, it is determined whether a user-designated marked regionis present. If no marked region is present, the process moves to step1920. If a marked region is present, objects contained in the mainwindow are searched for in step 1908.

For each object found by the search, it is determined at step 1910whether related objects are present with reference to the object-relatedinformation database 1822. If no related objects are present, theprocess proceeds to step 1914.

If related objects are present, the objects are grouped together in step1912. Next, in step 1914, it is determined whether objects in the markedregion or the objects grouped together are all contained (displayed) inthe main window.

If all the objects are contained, an existing sub-window is deleted instep 1918, and the process proceeds to step 1920. If not all the objectsare contained, the corresponding marked region or group of objects isdisplayed in a sub-window in step 1916.

In step 1920, it is determined whether a user has moved a cursor orpointer. If the user has moved the cursor or pointer, the processreturns to step 1916 for adjusting the position of the sub-window andagain displays the sub-window. If the user has not moved the cursor orpointer, the process proceeds to step 1922.

In step 1922, it is determined whether the display region has beenshifted. If the display region has been shifted, the process returns tostep 1908 and again searches for objects. If the display region has notbeen shifted, the process returns to step 1902.

In step 1922, selection of the warp button is also deemed as shift ofthe display region. If the warp button is pressed, the sub-window is setas the main window to search for objects again in step 1908.

Thus, as described above, in accordance with the embodiment, informationnecessary for working on many objects displayed in a window is displayedin a sub-window. The sub-window is automatically deleted if redundantinformation is displayed due to window manipulation.

Objects related to objects in the window can also be displayed in asub-window. As the objects in the window change, the related objectsdisplayed in the sub-window also change. The present invention thusenables flexible and ergonomically excellent information presentation.

FIG. 20 shows a block diagram of exemplary computer hardware to be usedfor window control of the present invention. A computer system 2001 inaccordance with the embodiment of the present invention includes a CPU2002 and a main memory 2003, which are connected to a bus 2004.

The CPU 2002, which is preferably based on a 32-bit or 64-bitarchitecture, may be implemented as one in the Xeon® series, Intel Core®series, Intel Atom® series, Pentium® series, and Celeron® series ofIntel Corporation, or the Phenom™ series, Athlon™ series, Turion™series, and Sempron™ of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., for example.(“Xeon”, “Intel Core”, “Intel Atom”, “Pentium”, and “Celeron” areregistered trademarks of Intel Corporation in the United States, othercountries, or both. “Phenom”, “Athlon”, “Turion”, and “Sempron” aretrademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., in the United States, othercountries, or both.)

A display 2006 such as an LCD monitor is connected to the bus 2004 via adisplay controller 2005. The display 2006 is used for displayingapplications and a pointer. A hard disk or silicon disk 2008 and aCD-ROM, DVD, or Blu-ray drive 2009 are also connected to the bus 2004via an IDE or SATA controller 2007.

A program for performing the display processing method of the presentinvention, a marking information database, an object-related informationdatabase, and grouping information are preferably stored in the harddisk 2008 or the main memory 2003 and executed by the CPU 2002 toperform window control.

The CD-ROM, DVD, or Blu-ray drive 2009 is used as necessary forinstalling the program of the present invention into the hard disk froma CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, or Blu-ray disk, which is a computer-readable medium,or for reading data from such a medium.

A keyboard 2011 and a mouse 2012, which are relevant to the windowcontrol of the present invention, are further connected to the bus 2004via a keyboard/mouse controller 2010 to operate the pointer 330.

A communication interface 2014 conforms to the Ethernet protocol, forexample. The communication interface 2014, which is connected to the bus2004 via a communication controller 2013, is responsible for physicallyconnecting the computer system with a communication line 2015 andprovides a network interface layer for the TCP/IP communication protocolof communication functionality of an operating system of the computersystem.

Document data containing a plurality of objects, a logically structuredfile representing nodes and branches, an image object file, etc., may beread via the communication line and processed.

The computer system 2001 has installed therein a GUI-based operatingsystem, such as Windows®, Linux®, or Mac® OS X®. The program or anapplication for performing the display processing method of the presentinvention operates under the control of the operating system. (“Linux”is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States, othercountries, or both. “OS X” is a registered trademark of Apple Inc. inthe United States, other countries, or both.)

The program for performing the display processing method of the presentinvention may be implemented as a machine-executable program written inan object-oriented programming language, such as C++, Java®, JavaBeans®,Java® Applet, JavaScript®, Perl, or Ruby. The program may be distributedin the form stored in a computer-readable recording medium. (“Java”,“JavaBeans”, and “JavaScript” are registered trademarks of OracleAmerica, Inc. in the United States, other countries, or both.)

While the present invention has been described with reference to theparticular embodiment, the present invention is not limited to theembodiment. Rather, changes conceivable by those skilled in the art maybe made to the present invention, including other embodiments, addition,modification, and deletion. Such changes are within the scope of thepresent invention as long as they provide effects and advantages of thepresent invention in any implementation.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An information processing apparatus havingsoftware running thereon, the software having a window as a userinterface for displaying a plurality of objects on a display apparatus,the information processing apparatus comprising: a computer comprising aprocessor; and a program which is executable, using the processor, toimplement functions comprising: in response to a user selecting adesired region in the window of the display apparatus, putting a mark onthe region and an object which is present in the region; changing thewindow to not display the object in the marked region; while the objectof the marked region is not displayed in the window, displaying asub-window in a periphery of the window, the sub-window displaying theobject in the marked region, wherein a transfer button is provided inthe sub-window automatically, responsive to detecting that the usermoved a selection pointer onto the sub-window; responsive to detectingthat the user moved the selection pointer over the transfer button,overlaying, over at least a portion of current contents of the window,an arrow depicting a direction of movement that will occur for thewindow if the transfer button is selected; and responsive to the userselecting the transfer button, displaying, in the window, the markedregion displayed in the sub-window, and deleting the sub-window.
 2. Theinformation processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein thefunctions further comprise, in response to the user selecting any of atleast one object displayed in the sub-window, displaying, in the window,the marked region containing each of the at least one object displayedin the sub-window, and deleting the sub-window.
 3. The informationprocessing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the displaying themarked region in the window comprises causing current contents of thewindow to shift in order to position the display of the marked region inthe window.
 4. The information processing apparatus according to claim1, wherein the functions further comprise: searching for objects relatedto the objects displayed in the window; and displaying, as thesub-window, related objects found by searching and not displayed in thewindow.
 5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1,wherein displaying the sub-window comprises displaying the sub-window sothat a direction in which the marked region displayed in the sub-windowis present, relative to current contents of the window, is graphicallyindicated.
 6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1,further comprising: detecting that at least one object which was presentin the marked region shifts into the window; and responsive to thedetecting, automatically moving the sub-window from the periphery to anoverlay position on the window, the overlay position corresponding to aposition that aligns each of the detected at least one object in themarked region over a position of the each detected object within thewindow.
 7. A method for displaying a sub-window in an informationprocessing apparatus having software running thereon, the softwarehaving a window as a user interface for displaying a plurality ofobjects on a display apparatus, the method comprising: in response to auser selecting a desired region in the window of the display apparatus,putting a mark on the region and an object which is present in theregion; changing the window to not display the object in the markedregion; while the object of the marked region is not displayed in thewindow, displaying a sub-window in a periphery of the window, thesub-window displaying the object in the marked region, wherein atransfer button is provided in the sub-window automatically, responsiveto detecting that the user moved a selection pointer onto thesub-window; responsive to detecting that the user moved the selectionpointer over the transfer button, overlaying, over at least a portion ofcurrent contents of the window, an arrow depicting a direction ofmovement that will occur for the window if the transfer button isselected; and responsive to the user selecting the transfer button,displaying, in the window, the marked region displayed in thesub-window, and deleting the sub-window.
 8. The method according toclaim 7, further comprising, in response to the user selecting any of atleast one object displayed in the sub-window, displaying, in the window,the marked region containing each of the at least one object displayedin the sub-window, and deleting the sub-window.
 9. The method accordingto claim 8, wherein the displaying the marked region in the windowcomprises causing current contents of the window to shift in order toposition the display of the marked region in the window.
 10. The methodaccording to claim 7, further comprising: searching for objects relatedto the objects displayed in the window; and displaying, as thesub-window, related objects found by searching and not displayed in thewindow.
 11. The method according to claim 7, wherein displaying thesub-window comprises displaying the sub-window so that a direction inwhich the marked region displayed in the sub-window is present, relativeto current contents of the window, is graphically indicated.
 12. Anon-transitory computer-readable recording medium having a computerprogram for display processing stored therein in a computer-readableform, the computer program comprising instructions which, when executedby a computer, perform functions comprising: in response to a userselecting a desired object and a region surrounding the selected objectin a display window of a display region of a display apparatus of thecomputer, putting a mark on the region and the object; changing thewindow to not display the object in the marked region; while the objectof the marked region is not displayed in the display window, displayinga sub-window in a periphery of the window, the sub-window displaying theobject in the marked region, wherein a transfer button is provided inthe sub-window automatically, responsive to detecting that the usermoved a selection pointer onto the sub-window; responsive to detectingthat the user moved the selection pointer over the transfer button,overlaying, over at least a portion of current contents of the window,an arrow depicting a direction of movement that will occur for thewindow if the transfer button is selected; and responsive to the userselecting the transfer button, displaying, in the window, the markedregion displayed in the sub-window, and deleting the sub-window.